Owners of The New Duff launch food truck

The owners of The New Duff recently completed the build-out of a food truck from the wheels up, and have taken it green by outfitting it with solar power. They have named the truck “Gim Sum”.

Kendrick Delaney, owner of The New Duff, along with his partner Lazar Charlton, began their business by presenting their newly-conceived guava duff concept from a bicycle cart.

Charlton said the business has now outgrown the bicycle cart.

“We saw that the food cart was highly successful and we figured it was time to expand our product line and we needed a larger vehicle to present that to the public, and it made sense to go to a food trailer,” he said.

The food trailer is a retrofitted horse trailer that was completely refurbished locally and outfitted with supplies and appliances by, in some cases, donations from Asa H. Pritchard Ltd., CBS Bahamas and Nassau Plastics Co.

Charlton said the trailer took about two months to gut and put back together, with the installation of the solar power and electrical work done by Bahamian companies.

“Instead of using a generator like the other ones, we decided we wanted to be as green as possible, hence it is being powered by solar,” he said.

“We told the solar supplier what we needed to have powered inside and outside the trailer and then they provided us a quote based on our electrical needs. They were more than happy to assist us and they gave us a little bit of a discount.”

The wrap that decorates the outside of the trailer was done by a young Bahamian graphic designer named Ryan Lewis, Charlton said.

The Gim Sum trailer will offer a new line of savory food by The New Duff, including pea soup and dumplings, curried mutton stuffed buns, ginger pork stuffed buns, jerk chicken stuffed buns, shrimp dumplings and a vegan dumpling with mushrooms and vegetables.

Charlton said he is impressed with where the new food truck movement is taking Bahamian food. Food trucks have become a huge sensation across the world.

“I think it’s a really cool thing with most of the food trucks here now,” he said. “They are really elevating Bahamian food and they are having it available on the go. Most of us provide the same Bahamian favorites with a twist.”

Gim Sum will be available on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on Mackey Street next to Carey’s Fabric, and every other day it will be mobile and The New Duff will use social media to post its location.

Chester Robards rejoined The Nassau Guardian in November 2017 as a senior business reporter. He has covered myriad topics and events for The Nassau Guardian.Education: Florida International University, BS in Journalism